1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle air bag systems, and more particularly to a vehicle air bag system and a method for discriminating between events for deploying airbags.
2. Background Information and Description of the Related Art (Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR .sctn..sctn.1.97 and 1.98)
Air bag systems are well known in the art. Generally, such systems include a sensor that provides a signal which is representative of various impact conditions, and a control unit which evaluates the signals from the sensor and deploys the airbag when a high impact condition is believed to be present. The airbags are mounted within the vehicle cockpit to reduce the likelihood that an occupant may come into forceful contact with the vehicle cockpit during a high impact condition.
One area of concern in airbag systems is the need for systems to discriminate between events that should and should not result in the deployment of one or more of the airbags. A deploy event generally comprises an impact of predetermined severity wherein it is desirable to deploy the airbags, for example a rapid deceleration above a certain threshold speed. A non-deploy event may comprise either relatively low speed impacts, or non-impact events such as heavy braking on a bumpy road. In both situations, it may not be desirable to deploy the airbags. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a vehicle air bag system which is capable of discriminating between deploy events and non-deploy events, and to deploy the airbags accordingly.